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The Iraq War and the Media by IPI (Part 3) Day 19: Monday, 7 April, 2003 American tanks and armoured vehicles penetrated deep into the centre of the Iraqi capital, raiding President Saddam Hussein's main palace and attacking several other sites. Sporadic fighting continued in Basra as British troops sought to bring Iraq's second city under their control. Fire fights broke out in the centre of Nasiriya - it was believed that the fighting erupted between Iraqi groups, possibly between Fedayeen members faithful to Saddam Hussein and people opposed to him. Christian Liebig, a German journalist of the weekly magazine Focus and Spanish reporter Julio Anguita Parrado of the newspaper El Mundo, were killed in an Iraqi missile strike south of Baghdad. Liebig and Parrado died in the attack along with two US soldiers, the two publications said in separate statements. Liebig, 35, had been one of only a few German journalists who received permission to be "embedded" with U.S. forces fighting in Iraq, due to the German government's tough opposition to the war which had hurt US-German relations. He had been travelling with the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division and was in a camp the brigade set up as its tactical command and control centre when the missile struck, Focus said. It said soldiers from the brigade had advanced into the centre of Baghdad and into one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's palaces on Monday morning. "Liebig had stayed behind in the camp for security reasons," the magazine said. In a previous report on the dangers of his assignment, he had quoted a US major as saying: "No story is worth dying for." "Liebig was a careful reporter, not one of the daredevils of the sort who flock to all the world's war zones," Focus said. Parrado, born in 1971, was normally assigned to New York for El Mundo and covered the 11 September, 2001 attacks. "He has just died, doing his job as a war correspondent," Parrado's father, Julio Anguita, told Spanish state radio. "He was with me three weeks ago and said that he wanted to be on the frontline." Parrado was also assigned with the 3rd Infantry Division as an "embedded" reporter. He had contacted his editors three times on Monday to report on US troops attacking Baghdad. His father is a former leader of the United Left party, one of the most vocal anti-war forces in Spain, where opinion polls showed strong opposition to the war. Parrado was the second El Mundo journalist killed covering wars in the past 17 months. El Mundo correspondent Julio Fuentes was killed on November 19, 2001, in Afghanistan along with Harry Burton and Azizullah Haidari of Reuters and Maria Grazia Cutuli of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. They were shot dead in an ambush as they drove from Jalalabad to the Afghan capital of Kabul. 20,000 transistor radios distributed by British soldiers in southern Iraq in the past week were set to alone receive the so-called "Voices of the Two Rivers" propaganda station set up by US and British forces, according to the French daily Le Monde. Following the dropping of so-called "black propaganda" aimed mostly at Iraqi soldiers from planes, the "psychological operations" enterprise was targeting hostile civilians with "white propaganda," Le Monde said. "Voices of the Two Rivers," mobile and broadcasting on five different frequencies, broadcasted music and messages devised by the aforementioned "psychological operations" experts with the help of "advertising" specialists. It was reported by RSF that the small US radio station KPFA, well known in the 1960s and '70s for supporting civil rights and for opposing the Vietnam War, became the voice of the opponents of war and claimed tens of thousands of listeners in the San Francisco Bay Area. The station was founded more than fifty years ago in the university town of Berkeley, California, and has four associated stations, in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Houston respectively. Another 50 less popular stations also aired its programmes. Day 20: Tuesday, 8 April, 2003 US tanks and low-flying jets pounded Iraqi forces in central Baghdad in support of troops advancing across the city. However, US forces met fierce resistance in some areas, and the Pentagon said it believed the Special Republican Guard still had "great potential for some sharp fights." During the day, US marines seized the Rashid military airbase, five kilometres (three miles) south-east of the centre. Kurdish soldiers backed by US special forces gradually advanced on the Iraqi-controlled towns of Kirkuk and Mosul in the north. Tarek Ayoub, a cameraman with Al-Jazeera, was killed during a US air raid on Baghdad which also set the Arab network's office ablaze. The Qatar-based satellite network said Ayoub, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, was confirmed dead in hospital after he was wounded in a missile strike on Al-Jazeera's office near the Information Ministry. Another member of Al-Jazeera's Baghdad crew, Zohair al-Iraqi, was slightly wounded. Reuters correspondent Samia Nakhoul had earlier reported that US planes were bombing targets near the ministry. "We regret to inform you that our cameraman and correspondent Tarek Ayoub was killed this morning during the US missile strike on our Baghdad office," Al-Jazeera said in a statement read out during its news bulletin, adding: "He is a martyr." The network regularly referred to Iraqi civilians killed in the US-led war as "martyrs". Al-Jazeera's Baghdad correspondent Majed Abdel Hadi called the US missile strike and Ayoub's death a "crime". "I will not be objective about this because we have been dragged into this conflict," he said, visibly upset. "We were targeted because the Americans don't want the world to see the crimes they are committing against the Iraqi people." No comment from the US military was immediately available. Al-Jazeera and fellow Arab network Abu Dhabi TV were the only two international channels with their own offices in Baghdad. All other media organisations used to operate from a press centre at the Information Ministry, but they moved to the Palestine Hotel after the ministry was bombed. Abu Dhabi TV had earlier shown footage of a huge fire blaze from the Al-Jazeera offices. Al-Jazeera correspondent Tayseer Alouni, who made his name covering the US-led war on Afghanistan, was seen carrying the wounded Ayoub into a car. "One missile hit the pavement in front of us, ripping out windows and doors, and then one hit the generator," said Maher Abdullah, another Al-Jazeera correspondent. "The office is now on fire." Alouni was one of only a few international correspondents allowed to operate under the aegis of the now defunct Taliban government in Afghanistan. Al-Jazeera's office was similarly one of the first targets hit when the US-backed Northern Alliance fighters routed the Taliban in Kabul. RSF issued a protest over the bombing in which Ayoub was killed. "We strongly condemn this attack on a neighbourhood known to include the offices of several TV stations," said RSF in a letter to General Tommy Franks, commander of US military operations in Iraq. "To ensure the safety of its journalists, Al-Jazeera's management was careful to inform the Americans of the exact location of its crews right from the start of the war. The US army cannot therefore claim it did not know where the Baghdad offices were. Did it at least warn the journalists about an imminent bombing? The outcome was predictable. Yet another journalist was killed covering this very deadly war for the media," said RSF, which called on General Franks to undertake a serious and thorough investigation of the attack in order to establish who was responsible for it and why it was carried out. Shortly after the blast at the Al-Jazeera office, Reuters cameraman and journalist Taras Protsyuk, 35, was killed after a US tank fired a shell at the 15th floor of the media hotel, the Palestine, where most of the foreign media professionals were working. The Spanish Telecinco cameraman, José Cuoso, was also killed in the attack. Protsyuk, a Ukrainian national based in Warsaw, had worked for Reuters since 1993 and had reported from conflicts in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Pakistan. Japanese journalist Kazutaka Sato had been next door when the shell hit, and rushed in to find Protsyuk. "I saw the cameraman lying down on the balcony with a camera standing upright," he told Reuters in Tokyo by telephone. "With a couple of other journalists, I put him on a blanket and carried him down to the ground floor and put him in a car. I believe he was shooting the scene of two US tanks west of the Republican (Jumhuriya) Bridge. His belly was torn up and there was a lot of blood there," he said. For Sean Maguire, Reuters editor in Eastern Europe at the time with US forces near Baghdad, Taras "epitomised the best of the people in Reuters - cheerful, incredibly easy to deal with and extremely professional." Madrid television channel Telecinco said that its cameraman, José Cuoso, 37, was also killed in the attack. Cuoso was wounded in the jaw and the leg, and was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery for shrapnel wounds. He died as he was being operated upon. "It wasn't possible to save him," a news reporter said. Television images showed Cuoso with blood on his legs being stretchered away and put into the back of a vehicle outside the Palestine Hotel. Samia Nakhoul, the Lebanese-born Gulf bureau chief for Reuters, and Iraqi photographer Faleh Kheiber were both treated in hospital for facial and head wounds and concussion. Television satellite dish co-ordinator Paul Pasquale from Britain was taken to hospital with leg injuries. "We are devastated by the death of Taras, who had distinguished himself with his highly professional coverage in some of the most violent conflicts of the past decade," said editor-in chef Geert Linnebank. "Taras was one of our most experienced television journalists. He is sorely missed by his colleagues, friends, and family." Linnebank added: "I note that the commander of the US Third Infantry in Baghdad has now said that one of its tanks fired a round at the Palestine Hotel. The commander said the tank did this after it came under fire from the hotel. Clearly the war, and all its confusion, have come to the heart of Baghdad, but the incident nonetheless raises questions about the judgement of the advancing US troops who have known all along that this hotel is the main base for almost all foreign journalists in Baghdad. "Taras' death, and the injuries sustained by the others, were so unnecessary," Linnebank said. A US general conceded that a US tank had fired "a single round" at the Palestine Hotel where the international media has been posted. A Pentagon official who refused to be named said that "we had reports of Iraqi snipers in the vicinity of the Palestine Hotel, operating from the Palestine Hotel, proving that this desperate and dying regime will stop at nothing to cling to power," with US military spokesman Captain Frank Thorp corroborating to CNN in Qatar that "the hotel wouldn't be a target. We only target military forces and if they place themselves in civilian areas, they become a legitimate military target. We have said very clearly from the very beginning that Baghdad will be a very dangerous place to be. This is a war zone," he said. However, British Sky television's David Chater, who saw the tank pointing its gun muzzle directly at the 15th floor of the hotel before diving for cover, said "I never heard a single shot coming from any of the area around here, and certainly not from the hotel. They must have seen us, they have seen us, we have seen them& there was absolutely no mistake, they knew we were there. That tank shell, if indeed it was an American tank shell, was aimed directly at this hotel&this wasn't an accident. It seems to be a very accurate shot." "There was just a huge bang. The walls shook," a Reuters correspondent telephoning from the lower floor of the hotel said. An emotional Chater described the scene after the blast as awful, with people screaming and calling for a doctor. "Standing here right now, I'm in the direct line of sight of the barrel of that tank, if it lobs another shell it could land here. It makes you realise how vulnerable you are," he said, visibly upset. "In all the three weeks I have worked from this hotel I have not heard a single shot fired from here and I have not seen a single armed person enter the hotel," Swiss television correspondent Ulrich Tilgner said in a report from the hotel. When asked why the tank hit a floor so high up, US Brigadier Vincent Brooks, spokesman for Central Command war headquarters in Qatar, said: "I may have misspoken on exactly where the fire came from. When we potentially take fire from those locations, decisions have to be made at a very low tactical level," adding that Iraqi fighters were allegedly using all kinds of civilian buildings like the hotel for cover as they fought. Later, the Defence Department's chief spokeswoman Victoria Clarke responded to the questioning about the incident with the following statements: "We are at war. There is fighting going on in Baghdad. Our forces came under fire. They exercised their inherent right to self-defence. We go out of our way to avoid civilians. We go out of our way to help and protect journalists. I personally have probably had 300 individual conversations with news organisations and bureau chiefs and some individual correspondents. And the essence of every one of those is: war is a dangerous, dangerous business, and you're not safe when you're in a war zone. The US military has repeatedly showed restraint in trying to protect innocent civilians during the conflict. We have said for a long time, even before we knew whether or not there would be military action in Iraq, that a war zone is a dangerous place. Baghdad in particular we believed would be a dangerous place," she said. Amnesty International called for an independent investigation. "Unless the US can demonstrate that the Palestine Hotel has been used for military purposes, it was a civilian object protected under international humanitarian law that should not have been attacked," Amnesty said in a statement. "If it had demonstrably been used for military purposes, it should not have been attacked by a tank shell, clearly incapable of careful targeting in this case." RSF said: "It's hard to believe this was just a mistake. We want proof this was not a deliberate attack of journalists." The Arab Journalists Union (AJU), also condemned "the Anglo-American attack on journalists while in Baghdad to cover the aggression". A number of news organisations were considering pulling their reporters out of Iraq after the latest deaths. Spain said it had asked for an explanation of the incident and had been told by US commanders that they had warned journalists 48 hours beforehand that Iraqi military commanders were using the building for meetings. Correspondents at the hotel said they were unaware of any such warning. Spanish media organisations said Spain's Defence Ministry had recommended their correspondents leave Baghdad and broadcaster Telecinco said it was pulling its reporter out. Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou appealed on behalf of the European Union for the US side "to safeguard the lives of all European journalists and other journalists in Baghdad". In a letter addressed to Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, to protest the incidents that took place at the Palestine Hotel IPI said it "protests in the strongest possible terms the shelling by the U.S. military of the Palestine Hotel in which two journalists were killed and several more injured. Based on information provided to IPI, on 8 April a U.S. tank fired upon the Palestine Hotel, which is the headquarters of many foreign journalists reporting on the conflict from Baghdad, resulting in the deaths of Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and Telecinco cameraman José Couso. Reuters reporter Samia Nakhoul and photographer Faleh Kheiber were also injured in the attack. In response to questioning from the media, U.S. officials have claimed that the shelling of the Palestine Hotel was undertaken due to sniper fire coming from the roof of the building; however, this has been denied by eyewitnesses who allege that no gunfire had been heard prior to the attack. Although the U.S. military have expressed regret at the loss of life and reiterated the fact that it is not their policy to target journalists, IPI has been left with the overwhelming impression that the attack was carried out recklessly and without regard to the potential for civilian casualties. Throughout the war it has been common knowledge to both sides in this conflict that international journalists were using the Palestine Hotel as their base and the failure of the U.S. military to act upon this information is inexcusable even in what has been termed the "fog of war." In reference to international law IPI had this to say, "In consequence, the United States may be in breach of international law, particularly the Geneva Conventions. Under the Geneva Conventions and the precedents of customary international law, journalists enjoy protection from the dangers arising from military operations and the U.S. military forces are bound not to conduct indiscriminate attacks. In shelling a civilian hotel, known to be occupied by international journalists, it is the strong belief of IPI that the U.S. military may have conducted just such an indiscriminate attack; a possibility supported by the use of a means of combat, namely tank shells to combat sniper fire, that cannot be solely directed at a specific military target and is of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians without distinction. Therefore, on the basis of international law, irrespective of whether there was sniper fire or not, IPI finds that the actions of the U.S military to be indiscriminate and taken with complete disregard for the lives of the journalists living and working in the Palestine Hotel." Finally IPI called on the U.S military to conduct a timely and transparent inquiry into the Palestine Hotel attacks In a letter addressed to Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, to protest the incidents that took place on 8 April, CPJ said it was "gravely concerned by a series of U.S. military strikes against known media locations in Baghdad today that have left three journalists dead and several wounded." The letter went on to say that, "While we recognise that both stations, which are located near the Presidential Palace and the Information Ministry, were operating in an area where combat was occurring, the missile strike on the Al-Jazeera facility raises questions about whether the building was deliberately targeted. The strike against these facilities is particularly troubling because both Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi TV had been openly operating from these locations in Baghdad for weeks, providing images of the war to the rest of the world. In addition, prior to the commencement of hostilities in Iraq, both stations told CPJ that they provided the specific co-ordinates of their Baghdad offices to the Pentagon. CPJ has seen a copy of Al-Jazeera's February letter to Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke outlining these co-ordinates." The CPJ continued to urge Rumsfeld "to take measures to ensure that similar attacks do not occur in the future and that journalists are given the protections afforded under international humanitarian law. We believe these attacks violate the Geneva Conventions. Even if US forces had been fired upon from the Palestine Hotel, the evidence suggests that the response of US forces was disproportionate and therefore violated international humanitarian law," the statement said. CPJ was concerned with the bombings of Al-Jazeera offices since the same thing had happened to their offices in Kabul in November 2001, in a previous US-led war. At the time the Pentagon asserted, without providing additional detail, that the office, "was a known Al-Qaeda facility," and that the US had not known that the space was being used by Al-Jazeera. Specifically, Article 79 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions notes that "journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered civilians & without prejudice to the right of war correspondents (embedded reporters) accredited to the armed forces." CPJ went on to say that if US troops were actually fired upon from the Palestine Hotel or the Al-Jazeera and Abu-Dhabi offices, " the response of US forces was disproportionate and therefore violated international humanitarian law." Finally, the letter's closing remarks called on the US government to launch an immediate and thorough investigation and to make its findings on the issue public. In reference to these incidents, the media in Latin America said it saw sinister motives behind the killings of the three journalists in Iraq. "The US is now murdering journalists," Mexico's respected daily El Universal said in a front-page headline. "MASSACRE," screamed Peru's La Republica in a headline in giant black letters. Argentina's Clarin daily said US military officials did little to allay suspicions that the attacks were intentional attempts to muffle the media. "The immediate perception that this was a deliberate act was poorly countered by the coalition chiefs," Clarin wrote in an editorial, next to photographs of the 11 journalists thus far killed in the US-led invasion. Political commentator Federico de Cardenas, writing in Peru's La Republica, said: "It appears that there was an ill-conceived plan in the US top brass to make journalists abandon the city." O Estado de Sao Paolo, one of Brazil's largest and most-respected dailies, ran a two-page spread on the journalists' deaths headlined "Victim of the Day: The Press." US Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking to US newspaper editors in New Orleans, dismissed the suspicions. "The suggestion that the United States would have deliberately attacked journalists is obviously totally false. You'd have to be an idiot to believe that," he said. The Latin American media has a long, distinguished history of coming under attack from authoritarian governments, guerrillas or drug traffickers, with Colombia topping the list as the world's most dangerous country for journalists. In a Counterpunch article, Wayne Madsen, a columnist and investigative journalist for the California-based news organisation, referred to the incident at the Palestine Hotel where several journalists were killed, as follows: "U.S. tanks opened fire on foreign TV and wire service offices that were already identified as "no fire" zones by the US Central Command. It did not matter. Tanks belonging to the US Army's Third Infantry Division destroyed the media offices and killed and injured a number of journalists". Apparently, the person in charge of the Third Infantry Division, and for the order to open fire at the hotel, where the western news organisations' offices were located, was Major General Buford "Buff" Blount III. In a subsequent Independent article published on 26 April, Robert Fisk, echoing many other eye- and ear-witnesses, said, "At the time, General Buford Blount of the 3rd Infantry Division, told a lie: he said that sniper fire had been directed at the tank--on the Joumhouriyah Bridge over the Tigris river - and that the fire had ended "after the tank had fired" at the Palestine Hotel. I was between the tank and the hotel when the shell was fired. There was no sniper fire - nor any rocket-propelled grenade fire, as the American officer claimed - at the time. French television footage of the tank, running for minutes before the attack, shows the same thing. The soundtrack - until the blinding, repulsive golden flash from the tank barrel - is silent. Then, in reference to Secretary of State Colin Powell's statements, an outraged Fisk continued "and then yesterday I had to read, in the New York Times, that Colin Powell had justified the murder - yes, murder - of these two journalists by saying: "According to a US military review of the incident, our forces responded to hostile fire appearing to come from a location later identified as the Palestine Hotel... Our review of the 8 April incident indicates that the use of force was justified." Prior to Fisk's visit to Baghdad on 8 April, he was in Beirut meeting with the managing director of Al-Jazeera, Mohamed Jassem al-Ali. In that meeting al-Ali gave Fisk a letter Al-Jazeera had written to Victoria Clarke, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, dated 24 February. In that letter al-Ali gave the address and exact map co-ordinates of the Al-Jazeera office in Baghdad, with the following details: Latitude: 33.19/29.08, Longitude: 44.24/03.63, stating that journalists would be working in the building. Incidentally, on 8 April a single US missile hit the exact same co-ordinates given by al-Ali, killing Al-Jazeera reporter Tarek Ayoub. On 27 May, CPJ published an investigative report on the incidents that took place at the Palestine hotel on 8 April. CPJ concluded from this report that, "the attack on the journalists, while not deliberate, was avoidable." In the report CPJ said, " There is simply no evidence to support the official U.S. position that U.S. forces were returning hostile fire from the Palestine Hotel. It conflicts with the eyewitness testimony of numerous journalists in the hotel. CPJ interviewed about a dozen reporters on the scene, including two embedded with U.S. forces who heard military radio traffic before and after the shelling. "CPJ has learned that Pentagon officials, as well as commanders on the ground in Baghdad, knew that the Palestine Hotel was full of international journalists and were intent on not hitting it." In Madrid, meanwhile, relatives of Cuoso asked the high court to have three U.S. soldiers extradited to Spain and put on trial there for "war crimes," and to be provisionally jailed. Pilar Hermoso, lawyer for the Couso family, said Spanish law and international treaties allowed for suspected war criminals to be tried in Spain even though the alleged crimes were committed abroad. Legal sources said whether the case was even taken up would depend on the judge assigned to it, with investigating judge Baltasar Garzon - known for attempting to try former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet - and high profile judge Guillermo Ruiz Polanco seen as most likely to take it up. If the High Court does not try the three men, named in the filing as Sergeant Gibson, his superior Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant Colonel Philip de Camp, the family would appeal to Spain's Supreme Court, Hermoso told a news conference. The testimony from Captain Wolford appeared to contradict itself, according to the CPJ report. "He said on the one hand that the tank that fired on the Palestine Hotel was 'returning fire' but clearly stated at other times that the tank was firing at a spotter with binoculars". Reuters reported on 27 May that it was conducting an internal investigation into the attack on the Palestine Hotel and was awaiting further details from the US military. The report was due to be finished in a few weeks' time. Day 21: Wednesday, 9 April, 2003 The government of Saddam Hussein lost control over Baghdad, with the advance of US forces into the centre of the capital. US tanks drove unhindered into public squares on the eastern bank of the Tigris for the first time. In a symbolic moment, an American armoured vehicle helped a crowd of a few hundred cheering Iraqis pull down a huge statue of Saddam Hussein in the al-Fardus square in front of the Palestine hotel. Looting broke out in Baghdad, with no sign of uniformed Iraqi soldiers or police on the streets of the city. BBC correspondents said cheering Iraqi civilians welcomed US marines advancing into Baghdad from the east. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Syria had been ignoring a warning he gave in the previous week about giving military assistance to Iraq, and accused Syria of harbouring fleeing Iraqi officials. Twenty-seven journalists from Abu Dhabi TV, based in the United Arab Emirates, were found safe after being trapped in cross-fire between coalition and Iraqi forces at their Baghdad office for more than 24 hours, Abu Dhabi TV officials told CPJ. The journalists, together with several employees of Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite channel, had taken refuge on the previous morning during the fighting, during which US missiles damaged Al-Jazeera's office and killed one of its correspondents. At the time, Abu Dhabi TV reporters also came under fire and their nearby office was damaged. Abu Dhabi TV director Muhammad Dourached said that since then, fighting had subsided, and journalists were able to move around the area and had gone back on the air. Two Polish journalists who disappeared in central Iraq on Monday after five armed Iraqis stopped them at a checkpoint near the town of Al-Hilla, were declared safe. Marcin Firlej, a reporter for the private TVN24 news channel, and Jacek Kaczmarek, working with Polish Public Radio, were travelling with two other cars carrying Polish journalists when they were stopped at a checkpoint about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad. Two of the cars managed to escape despite coming under fire from the armed Iraqis. No one was injured. The journalists had been detained at a school in Al-Hilla. TVN24 news producer Aleksandra Karasimsak told CPJ that the journalists were able to escape with the help of an Iraqi teacher who gave the two the keys to their car. The German Association of Journalists (DJV) accused the US military of deliberately firing at the Palestine Hotel, and demanded a halt to operations that endanger reporters. "We are appalled to learn the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad, headquarters for journalists from around the world, was deliberately targeted by the US military," the DJV said in a protest letter to Daniel Coats, the US ambassador in Germany. "We demand all military operations be halted which either deliberately target journalists and their work places or condone such attacks," said the association, which represents 40,000 journalists in Germany. Asked by German radio whether the letter meant they believed the US military deliberately fired at journalists, Gusti Glattfelder, a board member of the DJV association, said: "Yes, that is indeed the correct conclusion." He emphasised that belligerents should respect war correspondents as non-combatants. "In a war in which a "civilised" power like the United States is involved, vehicles and buildings clearly marked as belonging to journalists should not be attacked," he said. The DJV, along with the German Foreign Ministry, called for an investigation into the attack. As Iraqi-Americans spilled out on to the streets of Detroit, Michigan, to celebrate the fall of Baghdad, they protested the presence of reporters from Al-Jazeera, and accused the channel of siding with Saddam Hussein's government. Celebrations in the suburbs of Detroit, which has one of the largest populations of Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims outside the Middle East, persevered throughout the day as people danced in the streets with Iraqi and American flags. The festivities turned ugly later in the evening when a crowd of about 1,500 demonstrators sighted an Al-Jazeera correspondent and his cameraman and began hurling insults at them. "Down, Down, Jazeera; Go home, Jazeera!," they shouted angrily at correspondent Nezam Mahdawi. Police advised Mahdawi and his cameraman to leave for their own security, and, after a long stand-off, they ended up leaving. "It's a great message to send for all these hypocrite Arabic networks, especially Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi," said Cassy Mahbouba, head of the group affiliated with the opposition Iraq National Congress and the leader of the anti-Al-Jazeera protest. "These networks talk about freedom and democracy but they don't represent freedom and democracy," he said. "To the last moment they tried to support the dictatorship regime." "We get used to it," Mahdawi said, "we're just doing our job." The constant coverage of the war against Iraq eclipsed other newsworthy events which took place around the world during the crisis, diverting media scrutiny away from military conflict, massacres and other human rights abuses. "The Iraq story is huge. We have to pay attention," said Michael Hoyt, the executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, as he told Reuters that it was in the nature of the media that "when something's big, it pushes other thing out of the way." While the world has been transfixed by events in Iraq, very little attention has been paid to a plethora of stories that would otherwise have been front page stories or would have received a prominent mention in news bulletins. These included a massacre in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killings and detentions of Palestinians in the West Bank, and a crackdown on dissidents in Communist Cuba. The Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, Curt Goering, said the rights group had been concerned about the virtual exclusion of most other international news ostensibly providing an excuse for repressive authorities to "settle old scores" by cracking down on opponents. "That's been a fear that we had even before the war started. In Cuba that's certainly happening," he told Reuters. The government of President Fidel Castro had arrested 78 dissidents since 18 March, two days prior to the beginning of the war in Iraq, and dozens had been jailed for up to 28 years for being "mercenaries" of the United States. IPI condemned these actions as "apparently meant to silence once and for all the critical voice of the regime's opponents while world attention is focused on the war in Iraq." The United Nations said that up to 350 people were massacred by tribal militias in the DRC last week, about one third of the number of dead originally claimed by local people. Even as it was being reported that nearly 1,000 people were feared dead - a number that could be compared with the estimates of casualties in Iraq - there was hardly an iota of international interest. The US government also benefited from the attention directed at its forces in Iraq. On Tuesday, 11 Afghan civilians died when an American bomb missed its target and landed on a civilian house. This tragic incident could not compete with more "preferable" live television coverage of US Marines placing American flags on giant statues of President Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad, before toppling them to the cheers of hundreds in Baghdad and millions at home in the US. Day 22: Thursday, 10 April, 2003 US-backed Kurdish forces occupied the centre of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. There was jubilation and chaos on the streets of Kirkuk after the northern Iraqi city fell to the Kurdish militia. In scenes reminiscent of the uprising in Baghdad on Wednesday, people tore down a huge statue of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the city's central square and burned a giant portrait of him. US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a TV message to Iraqis, telling them that the rule of the Saddam Hussein regime was coming to an end. "American and coalition forces are now operating inside Baghdad - and we will not stop until Saddam's corrupt gang is gone," said Bush in his address. US and British leaders launched a new TV service into Iraq with a pledge to Iraqis that they would control their own future once the "nightmare" of Saddam Hussein was over. "You deserve better than tyranny, corruption and torture chambers&your nation will soon be free. The nightmare that Saddam Hussein has brought to your nation will soon be over," Bush said in a pre-recorded message. The messages from Bush and Blair were beamed into Iraq via a new Arabic TV network produced by UK and US governments, called Nahwa Al-Hurrieh - "Towards Freedom." It was due to be broadcast one hour a day from a specially-modified EC-130 US air force plane known as "Commando Solo" flying over the country, providing news, advertisements and "coalition public service announcements," British officials said. The enterprise was a bid to hasten the full collapse of Saddam's power structure. "Saddam Hussein's regime is collapsing and the years of brutality, oppression and fear are coming to an end," Blair said. "We did not want this war but in refusing to give up his weapons of mass destruction Saddam gave us no choice but to act. Now that the war has begun, it will be seen through to the end." The messages were pre-recorded at a summit in Northern Ireland on Monday. They promised troops would leave Iraq as soon as a new government was set up to replace an interim authority due to take over from the military. "Iraq will not be run by Britain or the United States, or by the United Nations. It will be run by you. Our forces are friends and liberators, not your conquerors, and they will not stay in Iraq a day longer than is necessary," Blair said, acknowledging that many Iraqis feared a repeat performance of the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war when Washington urged them to rise up against Saddam but did not back them with troops. "You thought Saddam's rule was being ended, but he stayed, and you suffered. That will not happen this time. This regime will be gone and ended," he said. "You will be free. Free to build a better life instead of building more palaces for Saddam and his sons&the government of Iraq and the future of your country will soon belong to you. We will respect your great religious traditions, whose principles of equality and compassion are essential to Iraq's future," Bush added. Fronted by Iraqi journalists, the content for the TV service had been agreed following discussions with the Iraqi exile community in London, British officials said. The first broadcast included an interview with an opposition group, a report on humanitarian aid, and a feature on Iraqi arts. It would purportedly be available initially to people in central Iraq including Baghdad, before being extended nation-wide on frequencies previously used by Iraqi TV. Leaflets were dropped to inform Iraqis of the new station, it having also been publicised on a US-backed radio channel which had been broadcasting in Iraq since 20 March. The service would last until a "proper, free and open" media could be established, a British foreign office spokesman said. Day 23: Friday, 11 April, 2003 Widespread looting broke out in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul, after the Iraqi army abandoned the city to US-backed Kurdish fighters. Television pictures showed people picking up banknotes from the street, alongside beds, furniture, and even a roof-top air-conditioning unit which was stripped from a building and carried away. In Baghdad, serious disorder continued, with the BBC saying that the Iraqi capital was prey to gangs of armed looters who had raided government buildings, museums, shops, private homes and even hospitals. In another development, the US military issued coalition forces with "playing cards" portraying 55 key individuals from the former Iraqi leadership whom it wants to see captured or confirmed dead. Sporadic fighting continued in Baghdad, with Iraqi militia fighters still resisting US forces in the densely populated western suburbs of the city. An American reporter and his cameraman were threatened and held captive for four hours by militias loyal to Saddam Hussein in Tikrit. The militias forced the reporters from their vehicle onto the ground with pointed arms, beat them and threatened them with death, CNN reporter Kevin Sites recounted on US television. "This is evidence that Tikrit is still firmly under the control of the regime," he said, designating the men as Fedayeen fighters. They allegedly accused the reporters of being spies, but a translator helped free the men, although they were forced to leave their technical equipment behind. The brothers of José Cuoso, the Spanish journalist who was killed by US troops on Tuesday, lodged a complaint against the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Javier and David Cuoso revealed during a press conference that they wanted to place Aznar before the highest court in Spain for his personal responsibility in ensuring the involvement of Spain in what they termed an illegal war. Cuoso was killed along with Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk in a US attack on the Palestine hotel, where non-embedded reporters were known to be staying. The US Central Command said an investigation was underway. US Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks revealed from the Centcom headquarters that US forces had been running the Nahwa Al-Hurrieh Iraqi television channel for more than a week, and that they were reaching the entire country with radio broadcasts. He recognised that much of the country would not be able to watch the messages by Bush or Blair because of the lack of electricity due to coalition bombing. "While we recognise we're not reaching all of the population yet by television, we think it's important to begin broadcasting right now for those who can receive it. We know there are some elites that had access to satellite TV, there are also some population areas that have generators. Iraqi TV channel number 3 has been run by the coalition now for over a week, perhaps two weeks. Our radio broadcasts cover all of the country and have for some time on five different frequencies, seven days a week," he stated. However, as Claudia Parsons and Merissa Marr wrote in a Reuters article, "the "Tony and George" show will not have reached many of the Iraqis it was meant for," despite what they referred to as "the celluloid nation" being determined to bring its bidding to Iraqis through the all-powerful television screen. The lack of power and electricity in the country meant that most people could not see the messages. As few Iraqis can actually see the "Towards Freedom" broadcasts, media commentators said the messages were aimed at the west as much as they were Iraq. "For every Iraqi who watched it, many thousands in the west also saw it. The broadcasts are partly directed at western audiences at an illustration of what they are saying to Iraqi people and how they are promoting the idea of a free and democratic Iraq," said Paul Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford University. "It is not a long term alternative to Iraqi broadcasting," a British official said. Of the five hours daily on air, the American content is produced by the Pentagon. US officials said the current schedule includes constant replays of Bush's message and slides of propaganda leaflets. The British content, one hour per day in total, is the responsibility of Britain's Foreign Office, which has reportedly outsourced production to a private London-based company called World Television. "It's not designed for any other purpose than to reassure the Iraqi people that the coalition will contribute towards reconstruction and reconciliation. We will be producing an hour-long Arabic language programme, include reviews of London newspapers and broadcast news, Iraqi culture, interviews and commercials," said John King, chief operating officer of World Television. Washington considers television as the key medium in Iraq, especially terrestrial channels because of the ban on satellite dishes under Saddam Hussein, analysts said. "That's why we saw so much effort to destroy television networks," said Paul Cornish, director of the centre for defence studies at King's College, London. Thankfully, "media experts said Iraqis would see through such blatant propaganda," according to Parsons and Marr. Day 24: Saturday, 12 April, 2003 A senior aide to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, General Amir al-Saadi, surrendered to US forces in Baghdad. General al-Saadi told the German television station ZDF, which filmed his surrender, that he did not know Saddam Hussein's whereabouts. The station said General al-Saadi insisted that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction, and he denied being a member of Saddam Hussein's formerly ruling Baath Party. Kurdish forces said they would withdraw from the city of Kirkuk in the oil-rich north by the end of Saturday, a day after it fell to Kurdish troops backed by US special forces. US personnel began to take control of the northern city of Mosul after telling Kurdish militia to stay on the outskirts of the city. Three Turkish journalists were hurt by gunfire near Erbil in North Iraq. It was unclear who had fired at their vehicle, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. According to the Turkish partial state news agency Anadolu Ajansi (AA), a reporter and a cameraman were from the Sky-Turk television channel. All three were supposed to be transported back to Turkey for treatment. The injuries were not mortal. Three Malaysian journalists who were attacked and kidnapped in Baghdad were reported released and unharmed on 13 April, according to the Malaysian government. Terence Fernandez, a reporter from The Sun, Anwar Hashim, a photographer from the New Straits Times, and Omar Salleh, a cameraman from Malaysian state television were initially reported missing last week. An Iraqi translator was killed during the attack on the journalists on the previous day. Two doctors from Malaysia were also hurt in the attack. Day 25: Sunday, 13 April, 2003 US marines entered Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Coalition commanders in Qatar said their troops met some resistance, but that it was very patchy. Tikrit was believed to be a possible remaining stronghold of Saddam Hussein's regime and there was speculation that troops loyal to the deposed leader might be planning a last stand there. Meanwhile, former Iraqi interior minister Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti - a half-brother of Saddam Hussein - was captured and flown by US helicopter to an unknown location for interrogation. In Baghdad, hundreds of members of the Iraqi police force and public service workers responded to an American call to help restore order. About 1,000 people, including health workers, electricity and water ministry employees, attended a meeting in the centre of the capital to volunteer for work. RSF expressed concern that a CNN team reporting from Iraq was travelling with an armed guard, and that this guard had employed his firearm. RSF said that the action established "a dangerous precedent" with the potential to imperil other journalists. "This behaviour creates a dangerous precedent that could imperil all other reporters covering this conflict and others in the future. There is a real risk that belligerents will believe that all press vehicles are armed", said RSF in a statement. He added that the use of armed private security guards increased the confusion between reporters and combatants in the conflict. Journalists can and must try to protect themselves by such methods as travelling in bullet-proof vehicles and wearing bullet-proof vests, he said. The CNN television news network had been using a private security firm to protect its crews, including the one led by reporter Brent Sadler that came under fire as it approached a checkpoint at the entrance to Tikrit. After a security guard in one of the vehicles returned fire, the convoy turned back. A CNN driver who was slightly injured was taken to hospital. The comments came after an incident in Tikrit in which a security guard hired by CNN fired his machinegun at a checkpoint as the CNN convoy came under fire. It is unprecedented for journalists to travel with armed guards in conflict zones. "To our knowledge, this is the first time press vehicles have travelled with armed security guards. It did not happen in the Balkans and it didn't occur in the first Gulf war. CNN appears to be going too far. This could come back to haunt them and other journalists. Journalists should not be travelling around with guards," said an RSF spokesperson. Matthew Firman, a CNN spokesman in Atlanta, said the team of reporters had come under small arms and automatic weapons fire from "relatively close range," either on the way in or out of Tikrit. He said the security guard, an Iraqi Kurd, opened fire in response and was slightly wounded in the exchange. No one else was hurt. He pointed to an earlier CNN report of an alleged assassination plot by Iraqi agents against its reporters, and confirmed that locals had been hired in Kurdish-controlled Iraq to protect the station's journalists. "Presumably we hire them to protect us, so if firing their weapon is required to protect themselves and our team, then that is appropriate. We only put our teams in situations in which we can do our best to ensure their safety. If it means hiring armed guards or security consultants we will do that. The security of our team is paramount," he added. Day 26: Monday, 14 April, 2003 US Central Command said the war in Iraq was "coming to a close" after US troops took control of the northern city of Tikrit. Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks told reporters in military HQ in Doha: "Clearly we are at a point when the decisive military operations that were focused on, removing the regime... that work is coming to a close." In Baghdad US marines were involved in a gun battle early in the morning. The exchange occurred outside the Palestine Hotel, and the marines later arrested and took away at least one man. After three weeks in captivity - the US POWs were freed on Sunday, when US marines stormed a house near the northern town of Samarra, where they were being held. Argentine reporter Mario Podesta, 52, and camerawoman Veronica Cabrera, 29, both of the Argentine TV station America TV, died in a car accident near Baghdad. They were travelling on the highway between Amman, Jordan, and Baghdad in a convoy of around 30 vehicles. The accident occurred about 25 miles from Baghdad after a tire on their vehicle exploded, according to CPJ. Podesta was killed instantly in the crash. Carbrera died in a Ramadi hospital around 24 hours later from critical injuries sustained in the accident, the Argentine daily La Nacion reported. A Portuguese cameraman was also in the vehicle and sustained a dislocated shoulder. No one in the car was wearing a seatbelt. The exact cause of the crash remains uncertain. The CPJ said it was investigating reports of gunfire heard near the convoy just prior to the accident. Monica Perez, another journalist present in the convoy, told La Nacion that the Jordanian driver of the vehicle was "scared to death and was speeding along the highway." "It was so terrifying when I saw Mario thrown on the highway, dead&and, Veronica was thrown out, groaning in pain, as was the Jordanian driver," Perez said in an interview. Podesta was an independent journalist and veteran war correspondent; he covered 35 conflicts and interviewed Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Salvador Dali, and Saddam Hussein, among others. He was survived by four children. Cabrera is the first female journalist known to die while covering the war in Iraq. She was survived by her husband and two-year old daughter. "She knew that she could die, but her passion was to cover war and she was happy doing it," Cabrera's sister told the Argentine news agency DyN. Podesta and Cabrera previously collaborated to cover the war in Afghanistan in 2001. ConclusionsEleven of the fifteen journalists who died in the Iraq conflict were killed while pursuing their professional duty of reporting on the conflict. Five media workers were killed by Iraqi forces, namely Kaveh Golestan, Michael Kelly, Christian Liebig, Julio Anguita Parrado and an Iraqi interpreter travelling with a Malaysian Radio team. Paul Moran was killed by a Kurdish suicide bomber with Islamist affiliations. Five journalists were killed by coalition forces. They were Terry Lloyd, Tarek Ayoub, Jose Couso, Taras Protsyuk and Kamran Abdurazaq Muhamed. The other four journalists died in incidents unrelated to combat. Two ITN journalists, Fred Nerac and Hussein Othman, are still reported as missing. No news of their fate has been forthcoming since their disappearance, following bombardment by coalition and possibly also Iraqi forces on 22 March. IPI finds that not enough is being done to learn more of their fate by those responsible for their disappearance, and that efforts to inform the world about it have been obscured as the war and its consequences has disappeared from "main news item" status. IPI recommends that the US, British and French governments co-operate in an effort to obtain information about Nerac and Othman and grant the public unfettered access to any information they may have. IPI condemns the killings of three journalists on 8 April, two of which were killed at the Palestine Hotel when a US Army tank fired, entirely unprovoked according to many eye-witnesses, at the hotel on the fifteenth floor where the journalists had been residing since before the beginning of the war. The other incident that sparked controversy happened when a US missile hit the Al-Jazeera offices in Baghdad, with the US armed forces aware of the exact coordinates of their offices, which Al-Jazeera had provided prior to the outbreak of the war. IPI recommends an investigative court case to determine the causes of these civilian deaths. Another issue which caused great concern to IPI was the treatment of journalists by coalition forces according to their status, either as embedded or non-embedded journalists. In many cases non-embedded journalists were denied access to broadcasting equipment that was offered to embedded journalists by coalition forces. However, due to the journalists embedded with coalition forces, the coverage of certain aspects of the war was more detailed, because of the privileged access that these journalists were granted. Nonetheless, IPI was alarmed at the vast number of press freedom violations in cases where non-embedded journalists were harassed, detained, had their equipment confiscated, were fired upon, and in many cases deported. Furthermore IPI is deeply worried over a statement given by US Brigadier General Vincent Brooks when he said, "that while embedded journalists receive protection from the military, those who operate as non-embeds do so at their own risk." IPI would like to remind the members of the coalition forces that they have the obligation under international law not to target journalists, whether embedded or not. Journalists practising their profession are to be treated as civilians, as stipulated in the Protocols Additional to the 1949 Geneva Convention, Articles 50 and 79. They also have the right to access to information, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19. With such a spectrum of violations, and despite the absence of an Iraqi government to hold responsible for the killings perpetrated against the journalists, it must be stressed that IPI holds the previous Iraqi regime under the leadership of Saddam Hussein responsible for several years of grave press freedom violations. IPI calls on the newly-imposed, US-led administration in Iraq to undertake thorough and transparent investigations into the harassment and killings of journalists and media workers and to respect and promote the basic human right to freedom of expression. With the US and UK governments occupying Iraq in an effort to rebuild the country and assist the people of Iraq on their road to democracy and eventual self-rule, IPI would like to see that the same be done to develop the media in Iraq which for decades has fed the Iraqi people a diet of a state propaganda. Being advocates of press freedom in their respective countries, the US and UK governments should not attempt in any way to hinder, censor or obstruct a new era of Iraqi press freedom for the sake of their own propaganda, or for any other reason. Ultimately, IPI requests a full and transparent inquiry as to all the press freedom violations perpetrated by the coalition forces during the war and reiterates the necessity of an ameliorated effort in the event of any future wars involving or perpetrated by the aforementioned parties. Sources (in chronological order): N.N.: Mission Iraq: Media Embed Ground Rules, 3 March, 2003,  , 23 May, 2003
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N.N., Press Release: RSF Calls on the US to Guarantee that the Media can Work Freely and in Safety, RSF, 19 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
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N.N.: Amnesty Urges Iraq, Media to Respect POW Rights, Reuters, 23 March, 2003 N.N.: Veteran British TV Reporter Killed in Iraq, Reuters, 23 March, 2003 Elgood, Giles: Rumsfeld Says 'Unfortunate' if Tape of POWs Aired, Reuters, 23 March, 2003 N.N.: News Alert: Croatian Journalist Expelled, CPJ, 23 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
Fahmy, Miral: Arab TVs Seen Fomenting Mideast Fury at Iraq War, Reuters, 25 March, 2003 Cozens, Clare: 4M in Europe Sign Up for Al-Jazeera, The Guardian, 25 March, 2003 N.N.: Lack of Scepticism Leads to Poor Reporting on Iraq Weapons Claims, Fair, 25 March, 2003 N.N.: Pro-War Media Bias Seen by US Antiwar Viewers-Poll, Reuters, 25 March, 2003 N.N.: News Alert: Al-Jazeera Correspondents' Credentials Revoked, CPJ, 25 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
N.N.: Iranian Journalist Goes Missing in Iraq-LBC TV, 25 March, 2003 Warner, Bernhard: Net Censorship Debate Rages as POW Pictures Pulled, Reuters, 25 March, 2003 N.N.: Using "Pro-Troops" to Mean "Pro-War" is Anti-Journalistic, Fair, 26 March, 2003 N.N.: News Alert: Group of Journalists missing in Baghdad, CPJ, 26 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
N.N.: Press Release: Iraqi Television Bombed by Coalition Forces, IFJ, 26 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
N.N.: "Precise" and "Surgical": NBC's Bombing Claims Lack Verification, Fair, 26 March, 2003 N.N.: Dawn Raid on Baghdad, U.S. Says TV Target, Reuters, 26 March, 2003 Oweis, Khaled Yacoub: U.S. Targets Iraqi TV, Pounds Saddam's Troops, Reuters, 26 March, 2003 N.N.: Iraq Plotted Radio Free Europe Attack, Say Czechs, Reuters, 26 March, 2003 N.N.: Iraq TV Raid May Break Geneva Convention-Media Body, Reuters, 26 March, 2003 Marr, Merissa: Al-Jazeera Calls on U.S. to Ensure Free Press, Reuters, 26 March, 2003 N.N.: US Media Applaud Bombing of Iraqi TV, Fair, 27 March, 2003 N.N.: Dead Troops on Al-Jazeera Almost Certainly British, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 Wolf, Jim: UK Commander Steps Up War of Words with Al Jazeera, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 N.N.: Media Watchdog Condemns U.S. Bombing of Iraq TV, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 James, Steve & Weinraub, Mark: Anti-War Message has Tough Time Being Heard in Media, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 N.N.: US Paper Asks Vatican Help Finding Journalists in Iraq, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 McCool, Grant: Nearly 200 Arrests in New York Anti-War Protest, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 N.N.: UK Military Takes Over Basra Radio and TV - Sky, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 Hafezi, Parisa: Iranian Media Turn Viewers Off with Pro-Iraq Line, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 Sullivan, Andy: Al Jazeera Web Site Faces Continued Hacker Attacks, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 N.N.: US Sees Inflammatory Reporting by Some Arab Media, Reuters, 27 March, 2003 Macartney, Jane: Asian Media Treads Line between Bias and Balance, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 N.N.: Press Release: IFJ Demands Inquiry into Reporters' Claim that They Were Beaten by U.S. Troops, IFJ, 28 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
Fritz, Johann P.: Letter of Protest: Allied Forces Target Main Iraqi TV Station, IPI, 28 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
N.N.: Press Release: RSF Makes Urgent Appeal to All Sides in the War to Help Find Nine Missing Journalists, RSF, 28 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
N.N.: Greece Calls on Journalists to Return from Baghdad, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 Nakhoul, Samia: Air Raids Pound Baghdad, B-2 Bomber Hits Comms, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 N.N.: Press Watchdog Heading to Iraq Frontline, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 Marr, Merissa: War of Words and Images Rages in Iraq Battle, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 N.N.: U.S. Journalist Suspended Over Antiwar Protest, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 Fahmy, Miral: Jazeera Reigns Supreme in Arab Airwaves During War, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 Spiegelman, Arthur: U.S. Media Waves Flag; Critics Debate at What Price, Reuters, 28 March, 2003 N.N.: Three Missing Westerners from Iraq Reach Syria-Report, Reuters, 29 March, 2003 N.N.: Eight Missing Journalists Found Safe in Iraq, Reuters, 29 March, 2003 N.N.: Newsday Says Journalists May Be Held by Iraq, Reuters, 29 March, 2003 Dunham, Will: Pentagon, in PR Assault, Uses Graphic Video Images, Reuters, 29 March, 2003 N.N.: Festgenommene Italienische Journalisten in Bagdad wohlauf, APA (Austria Presseagentur)-AP (Associated Press) 29 March 29, 2003 N.N.: US-Journalist wegen zu detaillierter Berichterstattung "ausgebettet": Militärkommandant: Sicherheit der Truppe war gefährdet, APA-AFP (Agence France-Presse), 29 March, 2003 N.N.: Britisher Korrespondent im Nord-Irak tödlich verunglückt, APA-AP, 30 March, 2003 N.N.: British TV Reporter Found Dead in Northern Iraq, Reuters, 30 March, 2003 N.N.: U.S. Forces Curb Use of Media Satphones in Iraq, Reuters, 30 March, 2003 Franks, Jeff & Holmes, Paul: Spin-Heavy U.S. Briefings Frustrate News Media, Reuters, 30 March, 2003 N.N.: Arnett Iraq Interview a 'Professional Courtesy', Reuters, 30 March, 2003 Wolf, Jim: Al-Jazeera Defends Images,Won't Censor War Horror, Reuters, 30 March, 2003 N.N.: Arabiya TV Says Missing Crew Safe, in Kuwait, Reuters, 30 March, 2003 Fritz, Johann P.: Press Release: IPI Responds to BBC "Friend of Baghdad" Accusations by UK Ministers, IPI, 31 March, 2003, , 19 May, 2003
N.N.: U.S. Strikes Iraqi Paramilitary, Communications, Reuters, 31 March, 2003 Oelrich, Christiane: Trotz Front-Platzes sind Medien und Militär misstrauische Kameraden: "Eingebettete" Journalisten sehen nur winzigen Ausschnitt des Kampfgeschehens, DPA (Deutsche Presseagentur), 31 March, 2003 Baker, Luke: Iraq Dust Aside, Media Welcome Army "Embedding", Reuters, 1 April, 2003 N.N.: Iran-Based Arabic Channel Wins Baghdad Viewers, Reuters, 1 April, 2003 Blair, Edmund: Missing Iraq War Journalists Arrive Safe in Jordan, Reuters, 1 April, 2003 N.N.: Bruised by Net Attack, Al-Jazeera Turns to Mobiles, Reu |